CDK Global: Shortening the Sales Cycle

CDK Global is a leading provider of retail software and technology solutions that helps dealers and auto manufacturers run their businesses more efficiently, drive improved profitability, and create frictionless purchasing and ownership experiences for consumers. One of their teams approached us, looking for ways to shorten the sales cycle and improve the purchasing experience for car buyers. Through our research, we uncovered patterns about and reaction to dealership practices, and we ultimately presented these actionable insights to the team.

Impact: The insights generated in this project enabled the product team to shorten the sales cycle by 20%.

The Basics

  • The Client

    CDK Global

  • Role

    UX Researcher

    UX Researcher

    UX Researcher

    UX Researcher

  • The Team

    Abigail Gore

    David Kerr

    Dustin Najera

    Tara Rastogi

  • Skills

    Affinity Mapping

    Qualitative Research

    Test Documentation (Screeners, Moderator Scripts, & Participant Packets)

    User Interviews / Usability Testing

    Interview Moderating & Notetaking

    Synthesis

    Presentations

Project Overview

Client Requirements:

Our client, CDK Global, is looking for ways to shorten the automobile buying sales cycle by understanding car dealership activities and how they impact consumers directly and influence subsequent patterns of consumer behavior. Equipped with this ask, our goal was to provide actionable insights to the team, which they used to inform their design decisions.

Methodology:

  • We had no criteria restrictions on the participants we worked with, except that they had to have purchased their car during or after 2020.

  • We conducted 8 user interviews.

  • Based on our interview findings, we developed a broad persona and journey map, in addition to a set of opportunities for the team to delve further into.

Participant Recruitment

Documents:

Although we had few criteria to meet in selecting our participants, we built out a participant screener to ensure our limitations were met. View our screener HERE.

Our recruitment process led us to find 8 participants that met our criteria.

In addition, we put together a discussion guide. We strategized on how best to ask our questions and what order to put them in - all in effort to yield the highest quality answers from our participants. View our discussion guide HERE.

Participant Interviews

Interviews:

We conducted 8 total interviews (2 per researcher) through Zoom, using their transcription feature. While Zoom’s transcription capability can capture the majority of what is said, it does leave room for error - so we each went back to our transcripts to make sense of them. View one of my interview transcripts HERE.

We then coded each of our transcripts, based on emphasized moments, events, and feelings, conveyed to us by our participants. With these highlights in mind, we built out an affinity diagram to collate our findings and start developing key themes.

We started with our individual findings:

And turned them into an affinity diagram:

After several iterations of our affinity diagram, including organizing by various themes, we built out the final version. In this last iteration, we added in a few more groups and then distilled each category down to one single insight.

Findings / Analysis / Recommendations

Persona & Journey Map:

Based on the above affinity diagram(s), we put together a persona profile, as well as a journey map of the car buying process. Both of these components played a huge role in developing our key findings.

The persona profile was built on the following criteria:

  • Younger millennials (30-something)

  • Professional salaries, but still price conscious

  • Bought new cars from dealerships

  • Wanted specific makes/models/features

  • Conducted research before arriving at dealership

  • Distrusted sales people based on hearsay from family and friends

As for the journey map, please see below:

Key Findings:

1) Sales Associate Relations - The way a sales associate treats a car buyer has a strong effect on how the car buyer perceives the entire experience.

In piecing together this insight, we observed patterns of both positive and negative relationships with sales associates, and we pinpointed when exactly each of these relationships begin to shape the overall experience for the buyer.

2) Customer Success Management - There is a need to actively engage car buyers and provide feedback (high visibility of system status) throughout the buying process.

Among the jumble of customer pain points we uncovered, we found themes of areas where car dealerships could (and perhaps should) have offered “system status” updates to keep customers informed throughout the process.

Recommendations:

In addition to the two key findings above, we explored other insights (findings), as well as potential opportunities (recommendations).

Final Report